1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cutters and, more particularly, to a brush cutter adapted to be driven in rotation by a conventional machine tool, such as a milling machine for removing material from a workpiece.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Workpieces manufactured from conventional casting and subsequent milling operations often contain numerous burrs which must be removed in order to provide an end product of acceptable quality. Burrs are generally small, sometimes flexible projections adhering strongly to the edge of a workpiece. If burrs are not removed, they can cause assembly failures, short circuits, injuries to workers, and even fatigue failures.
Traditional deburring operations have often consisted of an individual manually removing burrs from the workpiece using a knife-like deburring tool. As may be appreciated, this is a very labor intensive and time consuming process which often results in a low workpiece production rate.
In order to improve the efficiency of deburring workpieces, grinding wheels, carbide tips or brush cutters driven in rotation by a conventional hand held power tool are sometimes utilized. Conventional brush cutters include a plurality of closely spaced metal wire bristles which are moved over the workpiece surface while rotating, thereby cutting burrs from such surface. Unfortunately, these brush cutters often clog or "gum up" by removed burrs or chips which are entrapped between the rotating bristles during the cutting operation. This shortcoming is often exacerbated with increased cutting speeds wherein conventional brush cutters are typically limited to a maximum operating speed of approximately 200 surface feet per minute. The removed burrs or chips between the bristles typically melt together at higher operating speeds.
Additionally, conventional brush cutters have a limited surface area for contacting the workpiece to be deburred. Once again, due to the compact wire bristle arrangement, the overall operating diameter of the brush cutter is necessarily limited. As is readily apparent, with a small operating diameter brush cutter, more time is required to debur any given workpiece.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a brush cutter which may be powered by a conventional machine tool while operating at increased speeds for producing high quality deburred workpieces.